The Army's Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) Programs: Background and Issues for Congress

Abstract

In April 2009, Secretary of Defense Gates announced that he intended to significantly restructure the Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program. The FCS was a multiyear, multibillion dollar program that had been underway since 2000 and was at the heart of the Army's transformation efforts. In lieu of the cancelled FCS Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV), the Army was directed to develop a Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) that would be relevant across the entire spectrum of Army operations and would incorporate combat lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan. As part of the FCS program, the Army had been "spinning out" selected FCS technologies to brigade combat teams (BCTs) that were deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Secretary Gates's April 2009 restructuring decision included provisions to continue these efforts, and the Army decided that initially these technologies would be provided to Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs); the Army designated this effort as the Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) program. The Army reissued a request for proposal (RFP) for the GCV on November 30, 2010, and plans to begin fielding the GCV by 2015-2017. The first E-IBCT capabilities package (Increment One), consisting of an unmanned aerial and ground vehicle, unattended sensors, and a network integration kit, was tested in September 2009 and demonstrated poor performance and reliability. Because of the test results, Increment One was judged not ready to field and the Army was required to repeat the limited users test in September 2010. On February 3, 2011, the Department of Defense (DOD) cancelled the E-IBCT program but permitted the limited development of two of its systems-the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) and the Network Integration Kit (NIK).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 07, 2011
Accession Number
ADA543280

Entities

People

  • Andrew Feickert

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Armored Personnel Carriers
  • Combat Vehicles
  • Governments
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Infantry Fighting Vehicles
  • Information Systems
  • Lessons Learned
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • Self Propelled Guns
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States Military Academy
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Ground Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military Science
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy